on to genoa

we left torino early today, walking the two blocks in torino termini...the train ride was short enough, getting us into genoa just a short time before noon...we taxied to hotel helvetia, a truly historic hotel with connections both contemporary and historical with switzerland...once checked in, we took to the road and walked via cairoli, passing unesco's pallazzi dei rolli and finding i where we got information for places to eat..our first stop was da maria where i had a lunch of minestrone alla genovese (no tomato paste) served lukewarm (probably because it's summer) and a veal turrine...we walked over to the piazza fronting the opera house and enjoyed the fountain, down to the christopher columbus house (not his birth house) and on to san lorenzo...

we caught the metro to get back to piazza nunziata and our hotel...i learned from this sojourn not to take the back alleys of genoa...they're winding, leading to other alleys that wind onto others...stick to the main roads...they're better mapped...

for dinner we headed back to via cairoli where we found profumeria rosa which was ranked as a "must"...i ordered a whiskey and melon double scoop...dessert before dinner which we had down the via at gaia...i had sea bass con funghi with an antipasto of cod on patate...the meal was good...

day two in genoa was the search high and low...we took the funicular to the top of the city to the mirador...it was a nice ride to the top; however, genoa needs to trim its trees which blocked the view of the city..we took the funicular down to a midway stop where the view was much better...in fact, it was so good we had some gelato...we returned to the hotel with a stop at la lacanda where i ordered genovese bread made with raisins, citron, and pine nuts...it was not like panetonne because it was a much heavier bread...we used this bread when we made breakfast in riomaggiore...

we walked down to the porto antico where we had lunch at eataly...the port received mixed reviews from me...the aquarium, the terrarium, the galleon were quite impressive...but so many street vendors, street performers and lack of real eating areas made the wharf more carnival...we found eataly at the top of the port building...it's a joint business operation of batali, bastianich, and their business partners...the store is full of produce and italian products like cheeses, wines, packaged goods like rice but, more importantly, eating areas like pasta, pizza...we chose the pizza counter and watched the pizza makers do their thing...we ordered margarita pizza on a nice thin crust...

we returned to san lorenzo to view the interior of the church which doesn't open until 3:00 in the afternoon...it was very impressive and the tresor had some artifacts like san giovanni battista's reliquary were excellent...however, its "holy grail" looked very pier one...

we ended our stay in the san lorenzo area with a glass of coke and a passion fruit macaroon...we decided to walk back by way of the port to the hotel, comfortable with the major roads...

we headed out for la franca for dinner, making the big mistake of walking alleys which ended at the back of churches, which miraculously disappeared into thin air...until we came across a genovese who righted our path..we saw that la franca was off via cairoli...it was a seafood restaurant with probably the best meal (in toto) of the trip...i started with zuppetta di muscou, on to the pasta dish of pappardelle con tonno, and the secondi of cod with patate and smoked pepper coulis...i washed down the meal with cascina praié, a pigato grape from testico...we finished with a dessert, tenerina al cicollato, a trio of treats, chocolate cake, gelato vanilla, and zibibbo, a sweet wine mainly from sicily...a great way to end the food fest in genoa...